Oh dear.

[the other bob wilson]

More proof that the current crop of Conservative MPs are thicker and worse at politics than most of their predecessors.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-3175949/Video-Rwandas-different-Congo-Minister-Chris-Philps-shocking-gaffe.html

[JamesWales]

Re: Oh dear.

Its funny how the video looks quite different when you play it for another few seconds though and he answers the question..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-68901786

[the other bob wilson]

Re: Oh dear.

Its funny how the video looks quite different when you play it for another few seconds though and he answers the question..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-68901786

What's entirely predictable is that you'd be in defending him. I'm going to watch the whole thing on IPlayer in a minute, but, even if he did eventually answer the question, the damage had already been done, he looks completely unprofessional and without the facts to hand when he was first asked the question.

[JamesWales]

Re: Oh dear.

What's entirely predictable is that you'd be in defending him. I'm going to watch the whole thing on IPlayer in a minute, but, even if he did eventually answer the question, the damage had already been done, he looks completely unprofessional and without the facts to hand when he was first asked the question.

Yeah he looks unprofessional because people try to reduce down a complex situation to a few seconds of edited video.

What was also predictable is that you would be all over it although you are normally better than calling people thick!

Eventually answer the question? He answered it a couple of seconds after the video ended!

[Eric Cartman]

Re: Oh dear.

Its funny how the video looks quite different when you play it for another few seconds though and he answers the question..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-68901786

That's the only clip I have seen and I thought he looked like an idiot.

Like it or not, it is their most prominent policy coming into the election and he should be able to respond to a very simple example without fumbling around.

[the other bob wilson]

Re: Oh dear.

Yeah he looks unprofessional because people try to reduce down a complex situation to a few seconds of edited video.

What was also predictable is that you would be all over it although you are normally better than calling people thick!

Eventually answer the question? He answered it a couple of seconds after the video ended!

What’s “complex” about knowing whether Rwanda and Congo are separate countries?

Also, I said the current lot are thicker than their predecessors- it seems obvious to me that, with one or two exceptions, the present Government is more inept than the previous Tory administrations in my lifetime have been.

[JamesWales]

Re: Oh dear.

That's the only clip I have seen and I thought he looked like an idiot.

Like it or not, it is their most prominent policy coming into the election and he should be able to respond to a very simple example without fumbling around.

The question wasnt entirely clear, Goma is the 10th largest city in the Democratic Republic of Congo (I looked this morning!) and to me it's clearly a rhetorical question. Both DR Congo and Rwanda are well known countries and it strikes me as highly unlikely that he didn't know they were. The tone in the 'question' is also more rhetorical, and playing the video for a few seconds longer makes it very different indeed as he clearly answers it.

I hate this kind of politics in my opinion. Bob himself admitted he didn't even watch the programme before posting.

[JamesWales]

Re: Oh dear.

What’s “complex” about knowing whether Rwanda and Congo are separate countries?

The whole topic is complex, reduced down for the internet age to an edited video clip.

I don't believe for one second that you really believe that he thinks that Rwanda and DR Congo are the same country. You know he doesn't think that.

[the other bob wilson]

Re: Oh dear.

The whole topic is complex, reduced down for the internet age to an edited video clip.

I don't believe for one second that you really believe that he thinks that Rwanda and DR Congo are the same country. You know he doesn't think that.

Forty four words I make it in your post above and almost as many assumptions and examples of telling people what they’re really thinking on your behalf. Ive watched the programme now and his reply was just left to hang in the air as the conversation moved on to another point. He made an embarrassing mess of his first reply and the incredulous reaction of a panel member and a fair few of the audience spoke volumes. The BBC had it on their news first thing in the morning and the Mail of all papers were not slow in reporting it. I can remember that Mr Philp was Chief Secretary of the Treasury at the time of the Truss/Kwarteng emergency creating Budget, he was on his phone during Kwarteng’s presentation texting people about how the FTSE was going up during the speech - he sounds like a bit of an idiot to me.

[JamesWales]

Re: Oh dear.

If you truly believe that the MP doesn't know that DR Congo and Rwanda are two different countries and it wasn't merely a rhetorical question as part of giving an answer to a not entirely clear question, which he completed a mere seconds after your gotcha video ended then that's up to you I guess.

[Hilts]

Re: Oh dear.

What a feckin idiot.

It would be funny but people actually voted these clowns in. The standard of politician in this country is truly shocking.

[lardy]

Re: Oh dear.

The question wasnt entirely clear, Goma is the 10th largest city in the Democratic Republic of Congo (I looked this morning!) and to me it's clearly a rhetorical question. Both DR Congo and Rwanda are well known countries and it strikes me as highly unlikely that he didn't know they were. The tone in the 'question' is also more rhetorical, and playing the video for a few seconds longer makes it very different indeed as he clearly answers it.

I hate this kind of politics in my opinion. Bob himself admitted he didn't even watch the programme before posting.

It reminds me of the "I hadn't understood the UK was so dependent on the Calais crossing" quote.

But it's highly unlikely the Brexit Sec wouldn't know that!

[the other bob wilson]

Re: Oh dear.

If you truly believe that the MP doesn't know that DR Congo and Rwanda are two different countries and it wasn't merely a rhetorical question as part of giving an answer to a not entirely clear question, which he completed a mere seconds after your gotcha video ended then that's up to you I guess.

As I said in the title of this thread.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/chris-philp-gaffes-rwanda-congo-b2535291.html

[the other bob wilson]

Re: Oh dear.

If you truly believe that the MP doesn't know that DR Congo and Rwanda are two different countries and it wasn't merely a rhetorical question as part of giving an answer to a not entirely clear question, which he completed a mere seconds after your gotcha video ended then that's up to you I guess.

As I said in the title of this thread.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/chris-philp-gaffes-rwanda-congo-b2535291.html

God, the board is slow again today.

[Eric Cartman]

Re: Oh dear.

If you truly believe that the MP doesn't know that DR Congo and Rwanda are two different countries and it wasn't merely a rhetorical question as part of giving an answer to a not entirely clear question, which he completed a mere seconds after your gotcha video ended then that's up to you I guess.

I didn't think the question is unclear or complicated in the slightest.

Philp is a nerd and is clearly un-coachable from a media perspective. This doesn't make him a bad person but they probably shouldn't be drawing attention to this by sticking him on shows where he has to answer questions that aren't about his brief.

The fact that you can't admit he looks a bit silly is pretty mad, the audience reaction makes it pretty clear that the majority in there understood perfectly well what the question meant first time around.